What is Axiom?

Axiom is a general purpose Computer Algebra system. It is useful for
research and development of mathematical algorithms. It defines a
strongly typed, mathematically correct type hierarchy. It has a
programming language and a built-in compiler.

Axiom has been in development since 1971. At that time, it was called
Scratchpad. Scratchpad was a large, general purpose computer algebra
system that was originally developed by IBM under the direction of
Richard Jenks. The project started in 1971 and evolved slowly. Barry
Trager was key to the technical direction of the project. Scratchpad
developed over a 20 year stretch and was basically considered as a
research platform for developing new ideas in computational
mathematics. In the 1990s, as IBM's fortunes slid, the Scratchpad
project was renamed to Axiom, sold to the Numerical Algorithms Group
(NAG) in England and became a commercial system. As part of the
Scratchpad project at IBM in Yorktown
Tim Daly
worked on all aspects
of the system and eventually helped transfer the product to NAG. For a
variety of reasons it never became a financial success and NAG
withdrew it from the market in October, 2001.

NAG agreed to release Axiom as free software. The basic motivation was
that Axiom represents something different from other programs in a lot
of ways. Primarily because of its foundation in mathematics the Axiom
system will potentially be useful 30 years from now. In its current
state it represents about 30 years and 300 man-years of research
work. To strive to keep such a large collection of knowledge alive
seems a worthwhile goal.

Efforts are underway to extend this software to

(a) develop a better user interface

(b) make it useful as a teaching tool

(c) develop an algebra server protocol

(d) integrate additional mathematics

(e) rebuild the algebra in a literate programming style

(f) integrate logic programming

(g) develop an Axiom Journal with refereed submissions.

Axiom development was partially supported by
CAISS,
the Center for Algorithms and Interactive Scientific Software.
CAISS is a joint effort of the Computer Science and Mathematics
Departments of The City College of New York, part of the City
University system. Support by CAISS and CCNY is gratefully acknowledged.
In particular, the support by